The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: 30 Uninterrupted Seconds (feat. Papi)

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

"I SAID JERK OFF!" EVERYONE in the office is in on the Miami Marlins and Major League Baseball, and the crew is ready to show up to games as Sandy Alcantara has asked them to. Then, after a night where the Heat allowed the most points they've ever allowed in a single quarter to the Boston Celtics, Mike and Amin get into a legitimate shouting match over the Heat's front office strategy at this year's deadline. This is one of the best days of Dan's life. Today's cast: Dan, Amin, Chris, Jeremy, Mike, Roy, and Tony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello. Papi. He just hung up. I've got to call him back. Love the sound of a dial. This is old school right here. Yeah. I can't hear it anymore, but there is dialing.

We just took two numbers. Well, these are never orchestrated. These are always live. You never know what my father. I'm always a little scared of these because I never know what my father's going to actually say because he doesn't know. Hello? Papa. Danny, how much?

Yeah. What happened? How are you? What happened to the heat, Bobby? Oh, the heat, man, I got a headache. That first quarter, how many points both don't score? About 80. 50.

I don't know, man. Are you sure about that? It was 50. Everything was falling for them. Everything was falling for them. They make old trees. How many threes I make doing the game? That one-houser guy made.

You have 45-3s in the first quarter. It was crazy. Oh, my God. I tell you one thing. I was surprised. And the hero, he just, disappear. I'm going to call him Houdini. He's a Houdini guy.

He's a Houdini guy. He's tough against the shitty teams against the big team. The good things they got disappears. So what kind of magic act is that? Tough against the shitty teams, but then he disappears against the good ones. I bet he's going to score

about 80 points against the Wizards. You watch, you watch Saturday. The guy's going to roar like a like a big star. and then when it comes around the Celtics, he shrinks. You know, he runs away how many points he got last night? 12 points, 15 points, something like that. 18 points.

Yeah, that's for a $30 million a year, guy. That's a very expensive points, you know? Who else you mad at? What can I tell you? Who else are you mad at? No, I'm not mad at anybody. I'm just waiting for them to finish in 10th place, just make a little spot in the players.

and then make a big run for the big time. That's what I'm predicting. What can I tell you? How about you? What are you predicting? Do you think that they can beat the Celtics? You think that they can beat the pistons? You think that they can beat the war?

The season's over. They started 14 and 8. They fooled some people with their offense, and they've been 500 cents. They can't beat anybody good. They haven't been playing defense for a month. What do you mean? They got heroes.

They got the band. They got the best coach in the NBA. What do you mean? I can't please season is over. You are no doubt until you're out. Who said that? Who said that? Who was the philosopher who said that?

Yogi Berra. There you have it. That's my man, Yogi. He was a big guy. Yeah, I mean, the first quarter last night that was painful to watch. I had to go to the bathroom about three times in the first quarter. Isn't that just because you're old? I don't know what happened to my system.

I got too excited. last night, you know? Excited about what? The Celtics scoring 50 points in the first quarter, excited about what? The heat chasing them, chasing them 20 points down the whole game? Well, all I can tell you is that the Godfather got big plans.

They got big plans for the hit this year, next year, and the years ahead. You know, you got to believe in the Godfather. He's going to roll those dice over the table and he tried to get Durant. Is Durant available by any chance, you know?

Durant? Yeah, he looks good. I mean, he looks like a... All right, Dad, I can't talk to you anymore. This is the ramblings of an old man. I can't talk to you anymore. Why not? He's about my age.

He's playing basketball. What can I tell you? You know what I mean? Goodbye, Dad. But I got big plans for the heat. Goodbye, Dad. What are your big plans for the heat, Dad? Go ahead.

End it with one shitty joke because you know we're calling you. You know you're on air and now you're performing a shitty dance, and it's better when you don't know. know we're calling. I didn't know you were calling. What do you mean? I'm on air. What do you mean air?

What there? What there? Shitty actor. Get him out of here. Get him out of here. This is the Dan Levatore show with the Stugats podcast. I think it would be fair for me today to preach trulogy on the Miami Heat season after what you just saw happened last night. and I don't know how much objection I would get from a mean in the way of overreaction

for what the last 10 games of heat basketball has brought us against good teams where they just get dragged. 50 points in the first quarter is crazy. How is Jason Tatum going to reintegrate with these Celtics? Who knows? It's going to be because Sam Houser is going to make five threes in the first quarter. I got a triple double. I mean, I don't think Sam Houser had a lot to do with it. Are we about done with the heat talk?

It's baseball season, Dan. I want to get to the heat and I want to get to baseball because the Marlins are 5 and 1 and they have an ace, a legitimate ace who can carry a team and get you excited if they make, if they get all bargains on all their discount coupon Tampa Bay raise guys. Like if they if all these young guys, if they hit, they go seven for nine on the young cheap guys and it's like, oh, those are seven amazing players. Have you ever seen a discount bin at the dollar store? That's kind of what's going on, right? You walk around, you're like, oh, this is even discounted more. So this is a crazy Ross construction, okay? At the top of the hill, you got the ace.

He blew out his arm, but when he's on, holy shit, he's scubled from the right side. Is he back? Complete game? Really, Sandy? Welcome back. You were the best in the league for a minute. And then you got hurt, and that's the only guy they're paying. I didn't even know they did complete games anymore.

I thought that was outlawed in baseball. He didn't either, but he makes it look easy, right? This is an unhittable person when he's at his best. He won it, Sa Young. When everyone's throwing 100 miles an hour, that guy goes out there and throws 98 all over the place and nobody can hit him. And so if he's back, he wasn't last year, he was bad last year because he was hurt and rehabbing and then had up and down. But that's who he was when he won the Cy Young, what we just saw yesterday. And he'll do that to the White Sox, but he'll do that to the Yankees too.

Like, he can do that to anybody. And so you've got an ace in the middle of your city now. and the Marlins tried to build themselves back up, and I think they got Mike on the way home. He was wearing a Marlins jersey yesterday, and we did not comment on it, and then he stopped in for a two-hour game yesterday on the ride home and had the ballpark to himself.

Yeah, I wanted to give baseball a try. I tried it a couple of years ago, and I still had some issues with the game, so it didn't quite get its hooks in me. I saw the postseason last year. I understand it was good, and the World Series was great, and I wanted to jump in, give these Marlins to try especially,

and I had a really decent time at the game. I saw a brilliant pitcher on the mound. I saw one good baseball team, I think. And yeah, I went in that game, strolled in at, like, it was a 110 first pitch. I strolled in at 105, obviously didn't hit a lot of traffic along the way. I didn't miss any of the game. But I got right in. I saw a nice deal, and I was in my car at 328, and I'm like, damn, like, Rob Manford, of all people.

fixed it. There's a lot of momentum behind the sport, the riding the hot wave of the WBC, and I don't really have a leg to stand on as far as my complaints. Some small ball is back to a degree. The game is moving very quickly, which I really like. It doesn't afford me the opportunity to get in my phone and just zone out, which I like. And I was thinking about it, and I don't want to take this to a negative place at all, but I was driving home. I was like, of all people, the commissioner, the much maligned, this is how I drive. by the way. I drive with two hands and I'm just swerving all over the place.

Three and six. Thinking about the commissioner. Thinking about which commissioner. You think about commissioners on the way home. On the way home. You think of ways to fix sports on your drive home. Well, I was like, man, that was, I had a good time. I was drinking beers.

I was with the boys. I saw my team win. I was in and out. And now I know there's not going to be a complete game shutout all the time. And that had a lot to do with the pace of the game. Sandy works quick, too. You've got to be careful, a couple of beers that work too quick. I'm responsibly.

that to me. As you know, I'm driving like this just because I drive like this, not because of the beers. And I was like, Rob Manford, of all people, fix this sport. And it made me think, like, man, Adam Silver does have his work cut out for him because, like, if baseball can fix, like, the nauseating talking points that we went seemingly for a decade on, we're kind of getting to that point with the NBA, where we've been

talking about, like, what's wrong with the game for about a decade. If Rob Manford can do it, certainly Adam Silver can. What do you think of the in-game host? A little grading. Handsome, though, right? To be clear, you're going to get more Jeremy with the show today because he and Samson are going to geek out on baseball things. Samson's really good on baseball, and he might have some opinions on their announced attendance of 6,000 when he comes on with us because he was always trying to fake those numbers and fool around with those numbers. But the thing that Mike says that to me is most interesting about this is that sport was so reticent to change.

Like they had a chance one time when movies were trying to advertise in creative places. They could have put Spider-Man on the bases. And they were like, absolutely not. We can't do that in baseball. It's all pristine. They cleaned everything up. They sped up the game. They listened.

They made these drastic changes. They're putting a runner on second base in order to feed. They've always been ahead on new media, right? Like their channel and their network has always been better at this stuff than the other one. Smarter at how it is that they sell it. Two smarter fans. because baseball fans are the smartest, because they know how to do the measurements. And David and Jeremy are going to talk about all this in pitch clock,

but David was always lying about these numbers at the Marlins games. And what Sandy is saying when he comes off the mound, and I really do, I want South Florida to sort of embrace the excellence in this because of how rare it has been in the history of this baseball franchise that is in a city that cares about baseball, as you saw during the world baseball. classic. South Florida has rarely had ever a man of this kind of excellence at the center of its team. If this person is the Cy Young winner on a team from two years ago, the best in the sport at pitching. When the Yankees have started the season, the Yankees just started the season with

the best starts ever from their starting pitchers, ever for the sport of baseball. No one has ever started faster, better than the Yankee's starting pitchers. The Marlins have a horse at the top of their rotation that everybody would want, and he's telling people to come out to the park and genuflect at his excellence. This interview is awkward. It's in his second language. Listen to him after throwing the first complete game in a while

to tell everybody, yeah, I'm back. Look, I'm back. Sandy, your 13th career complete game. What makes this one a little different? A lot of different. You know, so it's been a long time without throwing a complete game. You know, but this one is a special for me. All my family here.

Fans is not here, but we still love them, you know, because we know this is a hard sport, and they know sometimes they gotta do something. They wore the house. But yeah, today was great for me. I don't know what happened at the end there to him, except that he was like... He thought that he's like,

the fans have to work, so I guess they've got things to do. That interview's awkward in his second language. Is that kidding? That guy looks like he's in high school who's interviewing him. That's radio intro host, pregame host, Stephen Strong. Just trying to figure out this specific role. Guys, it's been a long week. I have been talking nonstop everywhere.

And I'm exhausted. Yeah, that's fine. I'm good, man. I'll relax. Everybody's excited about Marlon's baseball. You guys, please, because it's awesome. Like, what's happening out there is awesome. And Sandy's right.

Like, the fans need to show up. The same way we showed up as a fan base for Jose is the way that fans need to show up to watch Sandy. You say Sandy's right. So that's what you think that's intent. To me, that sounded like he said something and then he's like, oh, I shouldn't have said that. You know, Sandy said it in both of his interviews. He said it with Kelly Sacco on the postgame interview on TV. He said it was Stephen Strom on radio. And what he said is like, look, there are 6,000 people here today. Show up. We're a good young team. Come out to the ballpark. Now, I would bet that every team in baseball that plays the White Sox on a Wednesday afternoon at 1 o'clock will have the

worst attendance of their season on that day. It just so happened to coincide with Sandy throwing a Maddox. But where he is right is this team deserves to have people show up. This isn't the fluky five and one start. Over their last 101 games, it could have been 100 where you tie it, but over the last 101 games, the Marlins have a better record than the Dodgers do. They've been one of the very best teams in baseball over that stretch. they started horribly to start last year,

but what they're doing, the guys they're bringing up, the guys they've traded for, Liam Hicks is a Rule 5 pick, Owen Casey, the guy they traded for in the Edward Cabrera trade, they're at the top of the league in RBIs, one and two. And you have an ace right there, and you're a Perez throwing on Friday, who's a dark horse candidate for Cy Young,

according to even Jeff Passon. The issue is that when you have a getaway day game at 1 o'clock on a Wednesday, like Major League sports doesn't do that, right? Like, you don't have an NBA game that starts at 1 o'clock. and everybody's like, all right, well, I got to go see the Kings at 1 o'clock. Like that hamstrings, I think, a lot of attendance and a lot of people getting eyeballs on the game

because people were at work. People were at lunch, like, oh, I'm going to watch the game for 32 seconds before I have to go back to my terrible desk job. I'll be honest, I was thinking about that yesterday. It was like a Wednesday 1 p.m. game. Who is this for? Pete Sixers. Who is this for? Oh, but this is, God, this is so interesting all of this.

Who's it for is the schedule these people keep traveling all over the globe in a way that's really, tiring by the time they get to that wonderful world series they gave us. The one o'clock game used to be part of this sports charm that you could go to a day game and watch baseball and it was something that was quaint and beautiful about the game. Dan, take me back to the 1950s. Mickey Mantle is running out to the outfield, all this stuff. It's beautiful, the golden age of baseball. Again, Wednesday at one o'clock. It's getaway day.

so they don't have to arrive at 5 o'clock in the morning. I'm just telling you why it is. I'm not talking about the players. Most of the sport, though, most of the sport played one o'clock games yesterday. I just want to know the people in attendance, wearing their finest suits and ties and hats and a newspaper under their arm and clapping, babbo, babo, blah, you know, and they're all smoking, chain smoking the whole time. Man, I should dress like that the next time I go to a getaway day. That would be awesome. And chain smoke the whole time.

But Wednesday at 1 p.m. the factory just gave you the day off to go take in the Yankees go see the boys in the pinckx. This is true. I'm not making this up, okay? The history of this historic sport makes it. So yes, somebody at one o'clock would have the honor to go attend the national pastime with a cigarette and a newspaper and a top hat and the people in attendance were wearing suits.

And it was an honor to get off from work and go watch DiMaggio because he happened to be in town. He took the train in. Dan, do I have you? your permission to leave Thursday's show early to wear a baggy suit to the Marlins game. I think I want to wear a baggy suit of a dora and have a newspaper under my elbow as I clap and call people whippersnappers. If you want to stay really committed to the bit, you also have to yell out some racial slurs at some point. Yeah, we are going back to the 1950s.

I did find it curious that a mean wanted to go back to the 1950s. That's not going to work out well for you. More wanted to just see it from afar. It means right. Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right? Don't place parleyes on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is won when it hasn't hit triple zero. Always drink your Yeagermeister ice cold.

That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion. Everything else? Everything else. Wearing clean underwear every day. Well, that's just a personal decision. Brushing your teeth? Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never pee pee on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules. But the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Yeagermeister must be drank ice cold. Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by mass Yeagermeister U.S., White Plains, New York. Hey, Roy, buddy. You know that energy shift when the game gets good, and everybody, altogether, in unison, knows to stand up on their feet? Oh, absolutely, Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Querva.

Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Quervo, man, it's at high five, a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Quervo brings.

It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Quervo effect. Keep it, Quervo. Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang. that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over.

You want to watch the game and maybe you're like, I don't know. I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it. After your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang,

that regular midweek hang around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right. This happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six-pack of Miller Light, said I was on my way. And next thing you know,

we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a miss call and the game's coming down on the final possession is one of those nights that you look around you take a sip

and you think yeah this was the right call and my friendship's stronger for it Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite great taste 96 calories go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you

or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer it's Miller time celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces

Don Lebatard. All these high-paid analysts. I don't want to mention names. TNT. ESPN. You know, oh, yeah. They are dead. They're not going to make it, you know.

Even if they win in, if they lose it in Miami. I need to calm you down. That's right. If they lose in Miami, they don't got a chance in Boston. Oh, they are going to have their ass, you know what, in Boston, you know. Stugats. They were wrong. Are they going to lose her job?

No, are they going to get a cutting paint? No, what are they going to do? Keep predicting what is the obvious? They're going to say, oh, the nuggets are going to win. Oh, Denver, the altitude. And you know what? The hit are going to win at all. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

The larger point I was hoping to make to a national audience is that in the history of Miami sports, all across them, it is the rarest of rare things. No, we got the best guy there at any position, at any, like, you can have your discussions because there are skeens and scoble and a bunch of other guys, but this guy at his

best is as good as good gets, and Miami has had very few of those in their history across all sports. Big breaking NFL news, a former Pro Bowl quarterback has signed with the Raiders. It would seem as though Fernando Mendoza has the perfect mentor in. Kirk Cousins. You like that? You like that, Dan? I'm talking about sports excellence in our market that has 6,000 fans as Sandy's like, yeah, the guys, the people have to work.

This directly affects one of the biggest local sports stars, a local product, future number one overall pick in Fernando Mendoza. How corny is this quarterback room? A stat for you, Dan, to back up what you're saying. Since 2022, the top list of complete games. by team in the major leagues. Number five is the Giants at eight, tied with the Red Sox at eight.

The Astros have 10. The number two team is Sandy Alcantra with 10, and then the Phillies have 11. And he missed an entire year in that stretch. I mean, I'm not going to forget how excellent this person was. When I tell you, best in the sport type of good,

give me all the ones Miami has had. You can do it on one. Is it two hands? Is it two hands history of sports in South Florida? that you can say, I have the best at that position or somebody you can make the argument. Yeah, you win the Cy Young, you're the best at that position. Dan Marino, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade.

Barkoff. I'll take your word for it. But it's a totally different class. Like even Bobrovsky wouldn't rise to there, correct? Like you're talking about hot goaltender, but when you have the best at the craft where all the other pitchers and hitters would say, Jesus, I don't have a chance there.

Like, if you have not seen this person pitch, okay? And I know everybody's sort of numb to, this guy throws 104, this, whatever. Everybody's throwing very hard. Kevin Brown winner, Sion? Kevin Brown. Jose, I think Jose would be in before Kevin Brown. Well, there's, when Sandy asks for attendance in that awkward way,

in the history of the Marlins of all kinds, only two pitchers have ever spiked attendance at the ballpark. It's Dantrell Willis. It was never Levan Hernandez. It was never Levant. And it was Jose Fernandez. Levin won a championship, but there are only two guys, novelties.

One guy's a black guy. The other guy is the most Cuban of Cuban guys. Came over almost drowned in the sea. Those were the only two spikes in attendance. This guy deserves that because this guy at his best is better than anybody. He's better than anybody who's ever pitched for this team. I can say that. I can say it flatly.

He has better stuff than Jose. He won a Sa Young. He was the best in the sport for a year. Jose Fernandez was not that. And I'm guessing if you look at their numbers, that Fernandez's strikeout rate would be better, but not his contact rate. Sandy, no doubt, is the more accomplished as a Marlon.

No doubt. I don't know if, like high end, top level, whatever. Sandy's this sports debate. Second longest tenured Marlon ever. He's a guy that deserves to be here. He's the only guy on this team that played in those awful orange uniforms and then transition to the new era and now gets to pitch on Sundays in Teal. He's a stalwart of this franchise and he does really deserve people to show up the way that it happened for Jose, the way that it happened for D-Train. And the great part about this is we could be going to his next start on Tuesday if we weren't doing our Sports Equinox live stream.

Jeremy wanted to say stalwart. He said stalwart. I did. Again, long week, man. Couldn't we just have Mike joining us from our sports equinox dressed in a baggy suit at the Marlins game? Are they on the road? They're on the road?

No, they're the one team that's at home. We could send them. I'm not going to do the getaway day thing. You're going to need me to the Panthers and certainly the heat analysis as well. We are looking forward to that. On Tuesday night, we're going to do a live show watching all three of the games. Panthers and Marlins and Heat.

But I am excited that, oh, so is Sandy going to pitch on Tuesday? I mean, I'm excited about the idea that the nation would be reintroduced after that World Series to, really, the Marlins are going to do it with all these raised sort of mathematicians. They're going to build a farm system and they're really going to throw at the sport. Hey, here are seven cheap guys. I bet I can make them into major leaguers that'll be above league average because they've got plate discipline. I don't think this team's going to hit nearly enough, but on the days this guy pitches, it won't have to.

And if he's healthy, that's one out of five. And the idea that the Marlins have one of those, the idea that South Florida has one of those, there haven't been many in our history. They have a lot of things going for them. Two top pitchers, a pretty solid lineup. I know the early season gauntlet of the White Sox and Rockies might inflate those numbers some,

But they have a really good farm system, too. They have bats that the franchise is really excited about that they can bring up in the summer and help this team with a run. And also, they haven't spent a lot of money. So you've got to think that they have some powder to go out and get somebody at the deadline or something that can push this. Why is it powder? You keep your powder dry. It's like ammunition. It's gunpowder.

Yeah. I thought it was something else. I went to the same place. Miami. powder means something different. Yeah, you've got some Coke to go out and trade for an arm. That's currency. Now you're talking.

Too soon on Jose Fernandez, given how that ended. No one went there by you. No, that was just you. No one went there by you. No one was thinking. Not a play on. Yeah. No.

Red card. Yeah. You should think about what you did. Loss of downs. Yeah. Lunt. I-N-T, really. Throwing over.

Interception. Big six. The other white. Safety. They scored on it. They're not good. It's a safety. And they got the ball back.

Yeah. Damn, damn. Going for two when you're up by five. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Yeagermeister shots.

Ice cold. Drinking it any other way would be like, punting on first down. Or letting your worst hitter bat first or like going for two. when you're down three with a second to go. It wouldn't make any sense. So don't let the team down. When it comes to Yeagermeister, drink it cold. I don't drink it at all!

Yeagermeister, damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jaegermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by massed Yeagermeister U.S., White Plains, New York. It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at WestJet.com.

or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off. Don Lebertard. I'm not going to apologize. I wouldn't expect you to apologize. You're a giant infant. Okay. You have no control over your emotions.

You have no control over your emotions. When you're calling someone you know an idiot, I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. And you're a fool for saying it. Okay. Stugats. You're a fool.

I was kind of following. Oh, you're locking in right now? You're locking in on office. Yeah, right. Let's drop the gloves, pal. Let's rock. You should be thanking me. For what? Every day.

For what? For what? For what? For what I've done around this character? And the second shit gets real for you? You want to come at me and call me a fool? Huh? No, no, no.

Seriously. Jeremy just whispered. I've added 10 years to your career. This is the Dan Levitar show with these two gods. Transition. I am just, I am buried under Tony's thumb. Tony is taking great to life. in giving me the giant thumbs down because I mentioned a little too much truth in the trulity.

Don't do it again. Don't know. Don't know. What are you doing, man? Toot me bad. Guys, it's really evident that, like, everybody got supercharged up and the heat went on a run. Like, their internal evaluation missed the mark. On?

For the Miami heap, thinking that they saw what they told Barry Jackson, and he came out with the Ten Commandments, and they really liked their team. They think they're going to make a run. I think it's being proven. That's not reality, man. It's being proven that they missed the mark, yet again, thinking that they had enough, thinking that they were good enough. Enough for what? Enough to make some noise.

No, man. I think that that was it. No, I don't know anything. I don't know anything. I don't know anything. I don't know anything. But I know those people well enough to know that they looked at that roster at the beginning of the year and they knew, look, we have an opportunity in the coming offseason and the one after that to have some incredible flexibility. We're not going to sacrifice that this year for an incremental gain.

Why sacrifice it? Why not add to that flexibility? Everybody else that was in the Janus pursuit that found out that Milwaukee was unsirious went on to make a move. To either help their chances in acquiring Janus or make themselves better. Atlanta certainly did or set themselves up for the future, understanding that it's time to capitulate we're not good enough like Chicago. I'm not saying go out and get another star. I'm saying what they did, which was the only team in their conference to not make a move, was very clearly an F-minus type of move.

You still are stuck in this reality where you think if a move isn't done, that means people say, Miami, here, how this? Get that out of my face. I'm not doing any deals. I'm Pat Riley. I like what I have. Mike, the reality is you are inundated with calls for, terrible deals of different proportions.

Sometimes, talent, return isn't good enough. Sometimes removes flexibility and, you know, and basically your ability, your inventory of things to move forward. I hear you.

It doesn't mean they said no. It means there was not a good deal out there to be done. Well, they're apparently the only team in the conference that thought that there wasn't a deal to be done. And that's the wrong move. Because you can't tell me. So you tell me,

what was the deal that was, Add a second rounder. Like add something that helps you in the off season. What was the deal where there was a second rounder available? Dude, I don't know. That's my point! That's my point! You don't know! You're speaking with so much certainty.

I mean, I'm trying to have a conversation with you. Turn it down. Don't do that. Turn it down. No, no, no. I'm holier than thou. My point to you is you don't know. Don't try to alpha me by yelling at me. No, I'm not trying to alpha you by giving you facts.

No, you're not giving me facts. I am giving you facts. You don't know. You're giving me a matter of opinion. You don't know jack shit about the trades that were available to them. I don't know. I don't know either. Right.

That's my point. But I do know everybody else made a move. The point is you don't know what was and wasn't available. That's the point. You speak with such certainty that I can't believe they didn't make a move. You don't know what was available. All right. Well, I'm pretty certain that they could have traded anybody on their roster for anything

that would have helped their cause in the offseason. I think that's pretty irrefutable. And I think you sound like a jackass for challenging that notion. You sound like a jackass for saying I'm pretty certain when you're not certain at all. You're in luck. You're not the biggest jackass in the zip code because across the street, there are bigger jackasses that miss them are. It's a jack off. It is a jack off.

We got a jack off. I can't believe you did that. I'm like, what are we doing? Like, I'm so clearly right on the Miami Heat. Like, this is so stupid. This is what Mike does. Mike, what Mike does is be right about the team. Mike gerrymanders, like the, the, basically the environment where the argument is happening.

I'm not saying to you, though, the Miami Heater, great. They didn't need to make a move. What I'm saying to you is you are implying that there was something to be done when we don't know that. That's what I'm saying. There's always something to be done. It's the NBA. It's talent acquisition. Well, shucks, we're the only team that didn't do anything.

There was nothing to be done. There was always something to be done. Can I mend fences on this maybe and find a middle ground, which is, I know what Mike wants here, which is specifically, it's guys like Norman Powell or. Andrew Wiggins. He wishes the heat would have moved those players. Theoretically, the entire fan base was like, move them for first round picks. Uh-huh. But those things are not available.

Mike says, okay, just move them for second round picks. But would you move those guys for second round picks if you then have to take on long-term money? Because Andrew Wiggins is going to be a player going into an expiring deal. That his value, going into next year, if he's on a exercise as his player option, is a year at $30 million. Is that more valuable in your pursuit of Yannis? Or is a second round pick more valuable?

Is Norman Powell's money coming off the books or in a sign and trade more valuable to you or a second round pick? These are the questions that are out there. You guys each have different opinions on how you go about it and we don't know what deals might have been doing. I don't. I don't. That's my point.

I don't have a different opinion. I am merely operating with the reality that I do not. have the information available to me to make a call. Mike is saying, hey, they should have done something. Mike, if you told me, hey, they could have traded Andrew Wiggins for two first, of course I might go ahead and do it. But my point is, you don't know what was offered to them. I do know that their position is they felt good about their team,

and they weighed that opinion about their team against whatever was out there. And also, I don't need to entertain this anymore. I don't. Then don't. Thank you. Thank you very much. Then don't entertain. I won't because I was right.

You're right about what? Right about them being a nowhere franchise in a bad position. We knew the roster wasn't good enough. What do you mean? No shit. When they're sending their PR guys over to Barry Jackson saying they like their hand, explaining to a frustrated fan base, which has a right to be frustrated, why exactly they stood Pat at the deadline. Yeah.

I feel pretty good about my position. The defense rest. What do you think their PR department should have done? I'm not doing this anymore. No, no. Not doing it anymore. Something. Something.

Everybody else did something. Joke franchises did something. I'm asking you with their PR department. You didn't like what they did. Tell me what they should have. The PR department, not basketball ops. The AR department did what they're supposed to do and have effectively done in this market for several years,

which is... What they're supposed to do. Yes, which is get the message out there. Hey, this is the right move. Meanwhile, they're in an unenviable position when you compare their position to the rest of the league. Hopefully this off-season. What we've tried for the last four years in trying to upgrade the talent level on this roster,

hopefully it works out. I would have loved some more additional assets that would have put Miami in an even better spot to do so because there always seems to be a team that has better assets. And when I look at the lay of the land inside the conference and your competition in acquiring those stars, like even outside of the conference like Minnesota, they did things to put themselves in better positions. And I don't think there was some jerk off in front of a microphone saying, there's no deal to be done. No, I said jerk off. It was a jackoff. We had a jackoff before versus it's a jerk now. It's a jack-old. You're taking the devil's, the devil's advocacy

argument. Yes, you are. Like, what kind of stance is that that there is not a deal to be made to improve? That's not what kind of stance is that when everyone else in the league makes the move? Mike. It is not an argument that is based in reality. That is not sports. And that is certainly not the credibility and foundation that Pat Riley has stood against him when it comes to upgrading this roster. That's not who that guy is. You think Pat Riley's a kind of guy that's like, oh, he's not looking at himself in the earth saying, I'm the kind of guy that can't make a move.

That's not who he is. You're making my point in that they didn't need to make a move. my point is you don't know what was available you don't know the deals that were on the table without that knowledge it is impossible to see here with certainty

with your chest puffed out and you don't need to detain this and he's a jokeal all right Dan loves this you don't like no no no no no no he's enjoying the show I let him talk for 30 minutes nonstop let me get my 30 seconds 30 minutes let me get my 30 seconds

without knowing what was on the table You cannot speak with any level of certainty that they messed up by not doing it. You're doing the family guy. A boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything. It could be a boat. You don't know it's in a mystery box. You can only operate off of what's available.

You can say, hey, if something was available and they didn't do it, of course. Again, I'm with you. If there were options to move some of these guys for real asset, for real return on value. Of course. But, Mike, that doesn't seem to be the case. you know how I know I know? I don't even need to talk about Barry Jackson or anyone locally. I didn't hear anything from Shams or Sam Amick or Mark Spears or anyone like,

ooh, the Heat had a deal on the table to move Davion Mitchell for seven first round picks. But they turned it down. The counterpoint is I see the rest of the league make moves. That's not. Okay, but you wouldn't have been happy with Jose Alvarado. Like, I mean, you wouldn't have been happy if they're saying, do something. Here's the argument that I would make. So everybody else had moves, but let's play this game.

We're the Miami Heat, we're the lone team that legitimately didn't have moves. because what? Because of what? Because of why? Why didn't they have moves? Show me the move. Why didn't they have moves? Show me the move. What's the argument? Why didn't they have moves? Because they built a pathetic roster that no one's interested in? Because they literally have zero pieces. Again, F-minus, failure. If every other team has the piece. If every other team is making a move, then the failure is even greater because they have nothing. The fair criticisms are a year late on Jimmy Butler. No one wins there, but a year late on Jimmy Butler. Miss on Durant because you're holding on to whatever it is that you're holding on to.

When Durant's in Win Now, Houston's in Win Now, you're ostensibly in Win Now, and you need somebody that's better than Norman Powell and Tyler Hero to advance Bam. If you're building around Bam, like these are fair criticisms. Right. But do you see what the difference is? The difference is you're talking about actual transactions that were available and not pursued in the moment. And Mike is talking about my imagination tells me this could have had. No, Mike's not doing that.

What Mike is doing? Tell me what the deal was. Let me speak very clearly to you because apparently you've missed the last three years. I mean, I've been saying and been right that the roster is not good enough. No one has argued that. No, no, no. The Miami Heat have publicly. Publicly they have.

And by their inaction. What are the PR department supposed to do? Give me my 30 uninterrupted seconds. Give me my 30 uninterrupted seconds. What's the PR department supposed to do? give me my 30 uninterrupted seconds too, all right? Because we've been right here, espousing these beliefs that the Rosser is not good enough. They've been publicly, at least, and by their inaction privately, not doing anything to upgrade the roster or make it better.

There is the failure. There is the failure. They miss the mark. We hit the mark. That's the failure. And if they hit the mark, they would have stockpiled assets. They would have done something to put themselves in better position, be it at this deadline or in the off season. It is, I mean, look at me, irrefutable that they have failed these last two years with how they've managed this roster. Irrefutable, by nuking the trade value of Jimmy Butler, by the disaster Terry Rozier acquisition that I was openly campaigning against by their inaction at this deadline. You did, he also campaigned against Kyle Lowry in terms of...

And that was a disaster too, even though they made it to the finals. sucked. Okay, look, I'm made uncomfortable by what just happened there. Amin just got an mean look at me. And obediently, he did. And you guys have raged at each other about something that neither one of you is wrong on because he's like, show me the exact deal that they're turning down so that I have the facts to properly criticize this. It's not an unfair appraisal by him because there are a lot of reports and we think this about Durant. We don't know how close they could have gotten, but the reports are from these credible people that you're not willing to give up some of your young pieces in order to get Janus.

Exactly. So, like, well, not in order to get Janus, in order to get something that's not Janus in the pursuit of Janus, right? That's all I'm saying is we know pretty well in this league when there are, sometimes there are rumored deals that we don't hear about until years later. Oh, actually, they were very close to getting Kevin Garnett or whatever, as I was in Phoenix, right? But most of the time, when we are criticizing what a front office does or doesn't do,

we have available some information. It may not be the full picture, but some information of decisions made or decisions not made. We know about the Jimmy Butler thing. He's right about that. We know about the Terry Rozier thing. He's right about that. Mike's problem is he thinks I'm arguing that they've done a great job.

And my argument is that what pertains to this trade deadline, you don't know. You don't know what was available. All you know is like everyone else made a deal. What does that mean? So Mike is basically chasing the action. He wants something to happen. I've worked for a man like that.

I'm sorry to cut you off. I've worked for a man like that who would walk in on draft. They're like, what are we doing? What are we doing? That's not the job. The job isn't just doing stuff to say, I got me one of these. I find really interesting how different your perspectives are because, of course. Does I've done it for a living?

Yeah, well, you've done it for a living. And he's spent 15 years being spoiled by the standard this organization set for. us, which is none of this is good enough. And now they'll win the next five games and it doesn't serve them because they've got a 0% chance at a top four pick. If they make the playoffs, they'll fool no one by winning their last five games in a row against bad teams. And then they'll go into the playoffs and be not good enough.

And there is no questioning that the standard they've set has fallen into some deep disrepair because they've been a year slow on moves they have not made, whatever those would have been that wouldn't be merely getting Norm Powell and making him an all-star, but improving the team so that you don't also now have to look at Atlanta and be like, are you kidding me? Now Atlanta fixed it in 15 games, and this locomotive in the Eastern conference is going past us because Detroit's already better and the Knicks are already better and Orlando kicks your ass every time they see you, and Toronto's got those young wings,

and you're looking up at the entire conference, and they're younger. The standard set, the standard set is what is the auroboris that is eating itself up, because the standard set of excellence, the way you get excellence is by bottoming out. Now, if you want to have a real conversation about, hey, this front office fails because it refuses on policy, on record,

to not go the route we went. You mentioned three teams. Detroit, Atlanta, Orlando. You know all three of those teams have on their roster? A number one overall pick. Kate Cunningham, Zachary Reserce, and Palo Vicaro. Right? All of those teams, regardless of how you feel about Resortse,

all of those teams went to the muck. They went and said, you know what? Got to know when to hold them, no one to fold them, and we're folding, and then hopefully come out on the other side of this with a transformational player who's going to help. But now Charlotte's better than you. Charlotte had a number two or number three overall.

I'm just saying it's the whole conference to me. Dan, you're giving me the whole conference of people who took a strategy that the Miami Heat on principle say we do not do. We do not do. That's the only part. You found it. No, that's the part. You found it.

Mike, Mike. It's a point off. They're making each other's points. Mike, here's the thing. If you had said to me, this front office fails because they refuse to do the whole. hard thing, which is be bad for real for a couple of years and then come out on the other side. I would have capitulated immediately. I would have bent the knee to use a tonism, right? So how are we highlighting a series of failures over the course of several seasons and saying that

this deadline was not one of those things? I know you're just asking the question, but I don't have what was available to them. Few people do. This is a very secret organization, but I do think it's a pretty strong hand when you say, the rest of the conference, found deals. They decided on courses. Some like the Bulls went south. Some like the Hawks went north. The heat stayed right where they are. Even the Pacers went north.

I would argue that the Hawks did not go north by acquisition. They did it by subtraction. Yes. But that could happen here too. Oh, God. Feed me more. Hey, it's Mike Ryan. And I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends.

Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over. You want to watch the game. And maybe you're like, I don't know. I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it. After your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang,

that regular midweek hang around the basketball game, into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right. This happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six-pack of Miller Light, said I was on my way. And next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a miss call and the game's coming down

on the final possession is one of those nights that you look around you take a sip and you think yeah this was the right call and my friendship's stronger for it cheers to legendary moments

with Miller Lite great taste 96 calories go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer it's Miller time celebrate responsibly

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